# What’s your favorite slang term from any time in history?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-your-favorite-slang-term-from-any-time-in-history/1031888
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [July 24, 2026, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-your-favorite-slang-term-from-any-time-in-history/1031888 "2026-07-24T00:35:52Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 4
### Author:  [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)
#### Post date: [July 25, 2026, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-your-favorite-slang-term-from-any-time-in-history/1031888/61 "2026-07-25T23:37:59Z")
> [@Filbert](#):
>
> I can’t quite get past the crude but effective Australian term for ‘not here to waste time’; ‘I’m not here to fuck spiders’.
When it comes to Aussie phrases my favorites are:
“Don’t come the raw prawn with me.” Meaning don’t try to deceive me by appearing naive or ignorant.
Describing someone as a “black catter”. As in, you have a fast car their car is faster, you have a big house their house is bigger, you have a black cat their cat is blacker.
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### Author:  [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)
#### Post date: [July 25, 2026, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-your-favorite-slang-term-from-any-time-in-history/1031888/62 "2026-07-25T23:52:59Z")
> [@Knowed\_Out](#):
>
> Bellytimber,” from the 1600’s, for yummy food.
Old timey slang is lots of fun.
As I said in the OP, a lot of it is sexual. Consider Tudor England.
> [@](#):
>
> Euphemisms for sex included ‘bedsport’, ‘tilling the fields of Venus’, or ‘nice play’ to suggest male and female enthusiasm. Ballads and jokes included a range of slang terms such as ‘pie’, ‘secret parts’, ‘corner’, ‘plum’, ‘hole’ or ‘pond’ for the vagina, and ‘shaft’, ‘pride’, ‘tool’, ‘cock’, ‘prick and ‘horn’ for the penis. Prostitutes were whores, harlots, trulls, jills, drabs, and geese or mackerel. ‘To make a fist’ was a term meaning to masturbate as well as throwing a punch
> **[Naughty Language in Tudor England by Carol McGrath #Tudor #Love #Language |...](https://deborahswift.com/naughty-language-in-tudor-england-by-carol-mcgrath-tudor-love-language/)**
And one of course can’t appreciate Shakespeare without recognizing the double entendres he frequently used.
In another thread, there’s a reference to “country matters” and the fact that “nothing” was slang for a woman’s genitalia, giving new understanding to the title _Much Ado About Nothing_
> **[Why Shakespeare's 'Much Ado About Nothing' is a brilliant sneaky innuendo](https://www.zmescience.com/feature-post/culture/books/why-shakespeares-much-ado-about-nothing-is-a-brilliant-sneaky-innuendo/)**
>
> This just goes to show how amazing Shakespeare was at his craft -- and also that he probably had a dirty mind.
> [@Ellecram](#):
>
> My dad used to call an umbrella a bumbershoot. I still use it occasionally.
My ex mother-in-law did the same. She told me it was British. I’ve since learned it is not.
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### Author:  [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2026, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-your-favorite-slang-term-from-any-time-in-history/1031888/63 "2026-07-26T07:27:21Z")
> [@Eric1](#):
>
> I’ve wondered if posh could be positive now. I think it’s still negative but wanted to ask about that.
I think in certain contexts - when referring to places or things, not people - it means the same as “classy” would to an American. “Posh restaurant” = “classy restaurant”. Whereas when referring to a person, “classy” denotes their behavior, in a purely positive sense, whilst “posh” denotes their background, usually in a negative way.
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### Author:  [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2026, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-your-favorite-slang-term-from-any-time-in-history/1031888/64 "2026-07-26T08:35:31Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#):
>
> Describing someone as a “black catter”. As in, you have a fast car their car is faster, you have a big house their house is bigger, you have a black cat their cat is blacker.
There’s a version of that I came across in the UK I like- Elevenerifer. As in, you’ve been to Tenerife, they’ve been to _Eleven_erife.
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### Author:  [@mtnmatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mtnmatt)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2026, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-your-favorite-slang-term-from-any-time-in-history/1031888/65 "2026-07-26T12:17:00Z")
I once (early-80s) read an article about the emergence of basketball in Africa that made derisive reference to the “Wabenzi,” the rich folks who drove Mercedes-Benzes.
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### Author:  [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2026, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-your-favorite-slang-term-from-any-time-in-history/1031888/66 "2026-07-26T15:21:00Z")
The (sometimes) obscure origins of these slang terms has reminded me of one that I actually listen for specifically. In “A Christmas Carol,” Dickens has the young boy passing by Scrooge’s window yell, “Walk-ER!” at Scrooge after being told to go buy the prize turkey. In every film and stage adaptation of the book I see, I listen carefully to see if it’s included or omitted. At present, it’s about 50-50.
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### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2026, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-your-favorite-slang-term-from-any-time-in-history/1031888/67 "2026-07-26T17:59:31Z")
I kinda do the same- and that slang term was apparently _Hookey Walker_.
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### Author:  [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2026, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-your-favorite-slang-term-from-any-time-in-history/1031888/68 "2026-07-27T05:23:17Z")
My personal favourite is “yeet”, which I picked up from my kids. I understand it has a few meanings but its use to mean “To throw an object with high speed and great force, often without caring where it lands” is what I like about it.
Unlike many of the terms here, “yeet” is not just yet another superlative, or synonym. It’s a word for something we’ve all experienced that didn’t really exist before.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2026, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-your-favorite-slang-term-from-any-time-in-history/1031888/69 "2026-07-27T14:20:34Z")
> [@Moriarty](#):
>
> In another thread, there’s a reference to “country matters” and the fact that “nothing” was slang for a woman’s genitalia, giving new understanding to the title _Much Ado About Nothing_
Yeah, “nothing” is a very useful one. “What are you thinking about?” “Nothing.”
“Pwn” is an interesting one: Usually new slang arises in spoken form, and there’s sometimes then a dispute about its proper spelling (for instance, “do-rag” vs. “du-rag”). I think that “pwn” was the first case of a neologism with a definite spelling, but with a dispute over its pronunciation. Rhyming with “own” seems to have emerged as the consensus, but there were also those arguing for “pawn” or “poon”.
> [@Princhester](#):
>
> It’s a word for something we’ve all experienced that didn’t really exist before.
Another recent one along those lines is “the zoomies”, for when a pet or other animal runs around like crazy. The old term was “frenetic random activity period”, or “FRAP”, which just doesn’t have the same zing to it.
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### Author:  [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2026, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-your-favorite-slang-term-from-any-time-in-history/1031888/70 "2026-07-27T18:24:24Z")
“pwn” is a typo of “own,” and it began in online gaming forums and game chat. Along with “noob,” “newb,” “n00b” and other variations, it became online taunting in the form of “pwn the noobs,” “Ipwnjoo,” etc. There’s also “elite,” “uber” and their alternate spellings to signify your amount of loot and the power guild you’re a member of.
I don’t see those words as often as I did 20 years ago, probably because more gamers use voice apps and type less nowadays.
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### Author:  [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2026, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-your-favorite-slang-term-from-any-time-in-history/1031888/71 "2026-07-28T04:04:06Z")
_“Ah, Man! I’m Sportin’ Wood!”_
I said that when I won some concert tickets on the radio. It made it way into a station promo. I got to hear it thousands of times on the radio.
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### Author:  [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2026, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-your-favorite-slang-term-from-any-time-in-history/1031888/72 "2026-07-28T07:02:34Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> Usually new slang arises in spoken form, and there’s sometimes then a dispute about its proper spelling (for instance, “do-rag” vs. “du-rag”)
It is “do” as in hair-do, as in to do, any I do not think there is that much controversy about how to spell it. Now, different dialects might pronounce different vowels there, so if you insist on spelling it phonetically you might get du, dae, dee, deu, dow, doe, etc.
> [@Knowed\_Out](#):
>
> “pwn” is a typo of “own,”
yes, it’s one key over.
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### Author:  [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2026, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-your-favorite-slang-term-from-any-time-in-history/1031888/73 "2026-07-28T07:15:49Z")
I’m quite fond of ‘it’s all gone Pete Tong’; a piece of (fairly widespread) rhyming slang in the UK that references the BBC Radio 1 DJ [Pete Tong](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Tong "Pete Tong").
If this is not obvious, it is slang for ‘it’s all gone wrong’; indeed the WWII slang ‘SNAFU’ has a very similar meaning, and is also an interesting term in itself.
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### Author:  [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2026, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-your-favorite-slang-term-from-any-time-in-history/1031888/74 "2026-07-28T07:45:46Z")
> [@Ellecram](#):
>
> My dad used to call an umbrella a bumbershoot. I still use it occasionally.
I think I may have seen that in a Dr. Suess special.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2026, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-your-favorite-slang-term-from-any-time-in-history/1031888/75 "2026-07-28T11:45:03Z")
> [@DPRK](#):
>
> It is “do” as in hair-do, as in to do, any I do not think there is that much controversy about how to spell it.
Yup, and that’s why a lot of people thought it should be “do-rag”. But etymology isn’t language, and people who actually wear du-rags almost always spell it du-rag, so that’s the correct spelling.
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### Author:  [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2026, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-your-favorite-slang-term-from-any-time-in-history/1031888/76 "2026-07-28T12:25:03Z")
In the 1980s, my buddies and I were fond of using the word “radical” (or “rad” for short) as a synonym for “awesome.” Example: “Hey, you should hear this guitar solo by Kirk Hammett. It is _rad_.”
Not sure where we picked that up from.
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### Author:  [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2026, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-your-favorite-slang-term-from-any-time-in-history/1031888/77 "2026-07-28T12:33:39Z")
Milhouse?
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### Author:  [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2026, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-your-favorite-slang-term-from-any-time-in-history/1031888/78 "2026-07-28T13:16:02Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#):
>
> In the 1980s, my buddies and I were fond of using the word “radical” (or “rad” for short) as a synonym for “awesome.”
It was short-lived skateboarder slang in the late-seventies in Southern California. As soon as it gained traction in pop-culture it became uncool in the circles that created it. I could use it as a freshman in High School (1978) but by the time I was a junior it would have been as ridiculous as calling something “groovy”.
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### Author:  [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2026, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-your-favorite-slang-term-from-any-time-in-history/1031888/79 "2026-07-28T20:38:00Z")
> [@DrDeth](#):
>
> Of course, I agree- but once upon “in any time in history” it was slang.
… which touches on an interesting point. In many (most?) cases, what used to be slang is either archaic (or lost) or has become standard English, For example, I have a fondness for [Polari](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polari) (which is arguably a language of sorts rather than slang - someone on this board will know the right word) and was going to suggest the word _Naff_ - but I suspect that’s standard English now. Likewise _Ogle_ and _Mince._ (The link to Polari has a word list).
So: I’ll go with _Winchester Geese_, a word I was taught recently, when a friend took us past Cross Bones, a former prostitutes cemetery, hidden away on the South Bank in London. The prostitutes of the area were, in the 17th century, licensed by the Bishop of Winchester (no, really) hence _Winchester Geese._
> **[Cross Bones](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_Bones)**
>
> Cross Bones (also known as Crossbones) is a disused post-medieval burial ground on Redcross Way in Southwark, South London. Excavation reports state that "the ground is thought to have originally been established at least as early as the 17th century, as a single women's (prostitutes') cemetery. By 1769, it had become a paupers cemetery and remained so until its closure in 1853." These women were also known locally as "Winchester Geese" because they were licensed by the Bishop of Winchester to ...
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### Author:  [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2026, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-your-favorite-slang-term-from-any-time-in-history/1031888/80 "2026-08-03T14:11:15Z")
I don’t like **yeet** because I don’t see what need it filled. I have never felt the need to throw something forcefully not caring where it lands.
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